1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information service system for mainly an apparel business world (clothing industry). The present invention also relates to a code conversion system for cancelling differences in codes used by different members in an information service for unlimited members and, more particularly, to a code conversion system capable of correcting a difference in management level even if the management levels (information classification method/number of classification levels) of members are different from one another, and for performing information processing of all the members in an integration management level.
2. Description of the Related Art
An apparel VAN (value-added network) for an apparel business world is proposed as a service network for circulated information, wherein a combination of POS (point of sales), VAN, CAD/CAM (computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing), and FA (factory automation) is defined as a total network.
This apparel VAN is established within a single enterprise, but cannot cope with the entire apparel business world. That is, the apparel business world in a broad sense is constituted by a plurality of individual enterprises, and the individual enterprises use their own original goods codes to configure systems for improving business efficiency. The goods codes of the respective enterprises are independent of each other. Therefore, in the systems of different enterprises, the identical goods are possibly recognized as different goods. Thus, each system properly functions within the corresponding enterprise (or its affiliation group), and only the data within each enterprise can be gathered and processed.
The apparel business world is mainly constituted by four groups, i.e., a selling network (retail shops and boutiques), apparel makers, sewing companies, and material concerns (a textile concern, thread/fabric manufacturers, and concerns and manufacturers for sub-materials such as lining, buttons, and fasteners).
Each of the four groups is constituted by a plurality of competitive enterprises (the enterprises range from a personal one to a limited company). Design senses, perceptual recognition degrees, (e.g., color tone, feeling, and texture), manufacturing techniques (skills of sewers), good seller prediction capacities (intuition based on various data), and others of goods to be handled in each group vary depending on the individual enterprises (or persons) in practice. For this reason, even if a given goods (e.g., a green one-piece dress) is an object to be traded, consensus in recognition between the enterprises or persons for even a color tone cannot be established in the absence of an actual dress (goods sample). (The same color may often be perceived as green or blue.)
In the apparel business world as a group of enterprises, companies, and individual persons having different standards of recognition and perception, it is very difficult to form a common database. In fact, such a database is not yet proposed.
To prepare a large common database in the apparel business world, a large quantity of capital and talented persons, and cumbersome operations are required, and at the same time the failure of management is always involved in the preparation of such a database. The preparation of the common database in the apparel business world cannot be achieved by individuals or a small, single enterprise (i.e., a large number of retail shops, an apparel maker, and a sewing company).
An enterprise and an individual that cannot utilize such a database must perform predetermined order proceedings of several future good sellers (clothes) in a prospective sales volume on the basis of the available information and its (his) own intuition until a season in which the stocked clothes can be sold.
Assume that an apparel maker plans to sell quality female dresses in this summer. In this case, this apparel maker roughly predicts the number of dresses which will be ordered by quality boutiques and the number of quality boutiques and reserves to make an order to a predetermined textile concern and a predetermined sewing company so as to stock a predetermined sales volume of female dresses Until the date of sale.
When the reservation of this order according to the conventional business practice is not made a given period before the date of sale (6 to 18 months before the date of sale; this period is called a lead time), the stock cannot be assured in a required quantity within the best selling period (a maximum of 2 to 3 months) of the clothes. The reservation amount is roughly determined. When this rough reservation amount almost coincides with the actual amount of sold, no problem is posed. However, this is not always the case according to the empirical rule. When a large number of clothes are left unsold after the best selling season, they are returned to the apparel maker to depress the management. To the contrary, if the planned dress is a good seller better than expected, and a shortage of the goods occurs, the goods (clothes) cannot be supplied to the consumers within the best selling season, resulting in inconvenience (any summer best seller cannot be sold at the start of the fall).
Note that ready-made goods such as formal dresses and low-end popular goods have a longer lead time than that of female dresses which soon lose popularity.
The apparel VAN does not have the database common to the apparel business world and cannot offer a good information service corresponding to the internal situations of the retail shops, apparel makers, sewing companies, and material concerns, which have a give-and-take relationship.